#pair dancing

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((She said Yes))

My entry for the 2019 @femmefest!  [ AO3 | LJ | DW ]

Minerva McGonagall/Rolanda Hooch - A proposal and “A Lifetime of Love” for @hippocrates460 ❤

[kittyprincessofcats]

You know what annoys me? Heteronormativity in partner dances.

Because I love dancing, but I hate how in most dance schools men only get taught to lead and women only get taught to follow. As a consequence, you need a partner of the opposite gender as a beginner, because at that point you’re not good enough to learn both leading and following. And it sucks, because usually there’s more women who want to dance than men. I’ve been to many dance parties where there was only a handful of men there, but tons of women (including myself) who wanted to dance, but couldn’t because they had no partner. And the worst part was that we also couldn’t dance with each other, because all of us only learned the “female” steps, and found it way too confusing to have to suddenly do everything the other way around. On top of that, I realized I don’t even like dancing with men, since I’m very gay and it makes me uncomfortable to have to be so close to a guy and look into his eyes etc.

It still took me way too long to finally come up with the super obvious solution: I just have to learn the “male” steps from the start and stick to that, because then I...

a) will always have someone to dance with

b) won’t get confused about which foot to start with

c) will get to dance with pretty girls

d) will have a convenient excuse in case men ask me to dance (”Sorry, but I only know the male steps...”)

This semester my university is offering a dance class for classical and latin dancing, and I felt like it was finally time. So I signed up for the class online, and went to the administation today to pay for it. I asked the guy at the administation how the dance partners are assigned because I don’t have one, and he said “Oh, don’t worry, our online-system usually makes sure that half the people in the class are men and half are women, so it should all even out.” Bam! Heteronormativity right there and I hadn’t even seen it coming. The idea that the registrations could be separated by gender hadn’t even entered my mind, just as it apparently hadn’t entered the minds of the administation that there could be women who want to learn how to lead, men who want to learn how to follow, or same-sex couples who want to dance with each other. So I told the administation guy that I’d like to learn the “male” steps instead, and he looked surprised and said I’d have to talk about it with the course instructor when the class starts in two weeks... wish me luck, everyone!

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Duo Sunrise: Umbrella Act